From the Bulletin

Learning Difficulties Australia

www.ldaustralia.org

The English language

LDA Bulletin | The English language learner and second language development
learner and second language
development: Essential
background knowledge for
classroom teachers

Sally Robinson-Kooi, an knowledge associated with second 2018). The most

language (L2) development. It provides important finding
experienced teacher of a foundation for (a) understanding that emerged
English as an Additional the learning progression of ELLs; (b) was that to be
Language, provides identifying those who may also be at linguistically
risk of developing learning difficulties; responsive to
information that can help and (c) distinguishing between English language
teachers to understand behaviour ‘problems’ and common learners (ELLs),
student behaviours associated with the “mainstream
what students whose first challenges of learning another language. teachers need
language is not English some knowledge
English language learners in of second language development –
may or may not be
Australian schools knowledge that provides a foundation
understanding in class. for understanding ELLs and designing
In Australia, ELLs are also referred to
instruction for them” (Villegas et al.,
as English as an Additional Language or
2018, p. 151).
Dialect (EALD) students and come from
When newly arrived EALD students
a range of diverse cultural backgrounds.
enter an Australian school, they are
Students may have been born in
usually placed in an age-appropriate
Australia or overseas; they may have
year level. However, it is important
had schooling in their first language (L1)
to note that their learning and life
equivalent to their age peer in Australia;
experiences may not compare with

T
they may have had limited or no literacy
he multicultural nature their proficiency in English. For
instruction in their L1; or they may have
of student populations in example, a student entering Year 8
excellent literacy skills in their L1 and
Australian schools means at an early phase of English language
other languages or dialects. In addition,
that most schools will have development may already have covered
they may come from advantaged or
students who are from non-English the learning area content in their home
disadvantaged socioeconomic settings.
speaking backgrounds. Reviews of country and language for that year
A detailed description of the diverse
empirical literature have revealed level in mathematics, but they may not
multicultural backgrounds of these
that little attention has been given have sufficient English proficiency to
students is provided in English as an
to developing pre-service classroom understand the teacher’s explanation
Additional Language or Dialect teacher
teacher knowledge regarding their of it or to demonstrate their previously
resource: EAL/D overview and advice
understanding of second language acquired knowledge.
(Australian Curriculum Assessment and
(L2) learning or the developmental Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2014). The EALD learning
process of acquiring a new language. Unlike native English speakers,
This knowledge is important to enable EALD students are simultaneously
progression
teachers to develop an informed learning how to speak, read and write All teachers benefit from having a
teaching and learning program for in a new language, English, whilst also deep understanding of the processes
English language learners (ELLs) (Geva, studying the academic content. In involved in acquiring another language,
Xi, Massey-Garrison, & Mak, 2019; 2018 The Education Forum conducted a progression which usually takes
Rosenman & Madelaine, 2012; Villegas, a special review of empirical literature approximately seven years from the
SaizdeLaMora, Martin & Mills, 2018). on preparing pre-service mainstream commencement of instruction with
The aim of this article is to provide teachers to teach ELL students in EALD support. Salend and Salinas
mainstream classroom teachers with today’s linguistically diverse classrooms (2003) emphasized that acquiring
a succinct summary of background (Villegas, SaizdeLaMora, Martin & Mills, and using a new language requires

Volume 52, No 3, December 2020 | 23

 From the Bulletin
Learning Difficulties Australia
www.ldaustralia.org

enormous effort and has a profound p. 142). However, if they no longer towards school? What was the
LDA Bulletin | The English language learner and second language development

effect on a student’s behaviour receive targeted EALD support, they can previous language of instruction?
and education outcomes. They become what is known as ‘entrenched • Home: What language/s or dialects
categorised the stages of learning second phase’ language learners. This are spoken at home? What language
an L2 as comprising the following means that without support it can result is used when playing with peers?
periods: reproduction or silent period; in a student misunderstanding new When did the student start to speak?
telegraphic or early production period; concepts, such as unfamiliar subject Are they quiet or outgoing at home?
interlanguage period; expansion period; specific vocabulary or grammatical
• Culture: What language/s does
enrichment period; and independent structures, and hinder the development
the student use in informal/formal
learning period. The ACARA EALD of their Cognitive Academic Language
situations with adults? How does
student learning progression (ACARA, Proficiency [CALP] (Cummins, 2000).
the family interact with the English-
2011) contains a similar four-phase Continued EALD support is necessary
speaking mainstream community?
developmental sequence of English to sustain their learning of academic
language learning for students in content in all subjects as they progress • Health: Are they any medical issues,
Australian schools. The complete through their schooling. physical or emotional problems?
document is available to download from During this four-phase learning (Geva, Massey-Garrison, & Mak,
the ACARA website. An outline of the progression it is important to be aware 2019; Salend & Salinas, 2003).
following four phases follows. that the effects of cognitive load, social This information will help to identify any
Beginning English adjustments, and stress often result in difficulties in the student’s L1 development
behaviours that can be mistaken for a as well as any other underlying factors, such
The student rarely initiates/participates
learning difficulty. Lack of oral language as trauma or lack of formal schooling. The
verbally, may be silent, and uses
is not a learning difficulty, nor does it information will also help to establish who
gestures and/or drawings. Later the
mean the student has ‘no language’. needs to be involved in the EALD student’s
student uses two or three words in
Therefore, gathering as much data as literacy program and whether there may be
simple present or past tense utterances.
possible before the student commences any underlying learning difficulties.
A subcategory, Limited Literacy
school is an important step in building
Background, describes behaviours Common behaviours which
a profile of where they are at in their L1
typical of students with little or no
literacy learning. may be observed when
experience of literacy in any language.
Emerging English Gathering background data EALD students are learning
Students benefit from using L1 with I have found that in many schools, English
peers and adults. They use short apart from recording the main language The following behaviours, some of
familiar phrases, and intonation and spoken at home, little background data which may be viewed as ‘disruptive’,
stress to gain meaning. In addition, on EALD students is collected. Also, are common and usually associated
they increase the use of English subject some schools fail to identify those non- with the stress involved when learning
specific vocabulary, use simple past and English speaking background students a new language in a school setting.
present tense sentences, and common born in Australia as actually being EALD Students may:
irregular verbs. students. Some such students may • go through a ‘silent period’
come to school having limited basic where there is little or no verbal
Developing English
interpersonal communication skills in communication. This can be
The student’s everyday vocabulary English and they may be mistakenly mistaken for a lack in cognitive
expands, and more subject specific identified as having a learning difficulty processes, apathy, or reticence
vocabulary develops. They may sound due to poor oral English. The situation (Salend & Salinas, 2003)
quite fluent, may self-correct simple oral becomes more complex if parents
and written language and may use L1 to • experience culture shock, feel
feel they should say they only speak
plan a text. anxious or ill
English at home and do not reveal other
languages that may be used. • have a short attention span affecting
Consolidating English
An important step when conducting working memory
The student has a sound knowledge of
spoken and written English and good oral an interview with the parents/guardians • struggle with writing systems,
fluency but continues to need assistance is to build a student profile, which may for example, direction of print
for demanding academic reading and require the presence of an interpreter. differences (Geva et. al., 2019)
writing tasks. (ACARA, 2011). The following guide questions may be • display lethargy and isolate from
It is important to be mindful that used to collect information regarding peers
the transition between developing the student’s general progress in school,
• display disruptive behaviour due to
and consolidating English (described their L1 literacy development, home
misunderstandings associated with
above) is a critical time because by languages, cultural values, and any
unfamiliar school routines or lack of
now the student has developed Basic known health issues.
previous schooling
Interpersonal Communication Skills • Time: How long has the student
been in Australia? • exhibit ‘inappropriate’ responses
[BICS] (Cummins, 2000) and will
such as shouting or laughing due
often sound quite fluent. A common • Schooling: Where was it and how
to cultural confusions (Salend &
misunderstanding is that “once L2 long were they in school? What were
Salinas, 2003).
speakers can communicate with their the outcomes? Have there been any
peers, they should be able to learn interruptions in schooling? What Some factors may point to the EALD
like their peers” (Geva, et. al., 2019, are the student and family attitudes student also having a learning difficulty.

24 | Volume 52, No 3, December 2020

 From the Bulletin
Learning Difficulties Australia
www.ldaustralia.org

For example, if the student is making of formality during class and student/ on the visual pattterns of the writing

LDA Bulletin | The English language learner and second language development
very limited progress despite receiving teacher interactions. system ” (Low and Seigel, 2009, p. 291).
explicit and structured EALD teaching Learning to read English requires In Australia, the most popular EALD
this may signify difficulties beyond L2 students to crack the workings of the teaching methods are usually based
learning. Students may: English language code. All writing on whole-language or constructivist
• exhibit continuous difficulties systems are a code for spoken approaches. Unfortunately, many
decoding regular letter and sound languages, and phonemes absent students, including ELLs do not
patterns, phonemic awareness, and in the native language need to be sufficiently develop English language
phonological skills in L2 (Geva et al., explicitly taught alongside concentrated skills this way. Explicit instruction
2019) vocabulary instruction (Low & Siegel, emphasising phonological knowledge
2009). Therefore, having knowledge and the structure of English is seen as
• have an oral language deficit in the
about the similarities and differences superior. Rowe (2006) summarised
L1 findings on effective teaching practices
between English and the student’s
• older students may have a deficit in native language is important. To for EALD students with and without
reading and spelling in the L1 and L2 illustrate how the code varies across learning difficulties and found that, when
(Geva et al., 2019) languages, look at the word peach introducing new skills, constructivist
• have difficulty in transferring basic written in English, French, Mandarin approaches can compound a
skills from one task to another and Arabic (see Figure 1). French and disadvantage. This means that if there
English both have writing systems that is insufficient explicit teaching followed
• exhibit poor organisation skills
are alphabetic, that is, they represent by repeated practising, the student is
• have poor basic mathematical individual spoken sounds. The Chinese unlikely to master the skill.
concepts in L1 system is logographic which represents
Identification, assessment,
• demonstrate a continued lack of both sounds and meaning, whilst Arabic
concentration has an abjad alphabetic writing system and intervention strategies
which mainly represents consonants Rosenman and Madelaine (2012)
• have continued psychological issues
with a few vowels. investigated the identification,
(Salend & Salinas, 2003).
Despite these variations in assessment and intervention strategies
orthography, Low and Siegel (2009) used to predict the best literacy
Cracking the code: Features found that EALD students from other achievement in young EALD students.
of the first and target language backgrounds, including those They found that, whilst the knowledge
language with very different writing systems to of identification, assessment, and
English, are quite able to learn to spell intervention strategies to identify at risk
For teachers to foresee and understand simultaneously with learning to read. students who are native speakers of
the difficulties an ELL is most likely to Quality instruction, which builds on English is extensive, this is not the case
encounter during their English literacy previously taught concepts and prior for EALD students. These students are
developmental progress, it is important knowledge and is explicit, systematic, often classified as at-risk or as having a
to be familiar with features of the and sequential, is the key to success. disability due to limited oral language
student’s first language (Swan & Smith, The acquisition of reading and proficiency. The literature, however,
2012). This includes being familiar with spelling skills in English requires suggests that limited oral language
the phonological differences between the mastery of two processes: “a proficiency is not a good predictor of
the student’s first language and phonological process based on the reading ability and such a classification
dialects, differences in writing systems, awareness of sounds in spoken words may be misleading and detrimental to
and cultural issues such as degrees and an orthographic process based the EALD student.
Other researchers (Cummins, 2000;
Low & Siegel, 2009; Geva et al., 2019)
found a relationship between literacy
achievement in L1 skills that impacts on
achievement in L2 literacy development.
They suggest that if a student has strong
literacy skills in the L1 it is likely to
transfer to their L2 learning.
The following research findings from
the Rosenman and Madelaine study
(2012) can assist teachers to identify
students who may either have poor literacy
skills due to limited English language
proficiency or those who may (also) have
a learning difficulty. First, oral language
proficiency was found to be an unreliable
measure, especially for kindergarten
students whose reading was subsequently
found to be on a par with native speakers
in later grades, regardless of their oral
Figure 1. Example of the writing system code: English, French, Mandarin and Arabic skills in the early years. “Overcoming the

Volume 52, No 3, December 2020 | 25

 From the Bulletin
Learning Difficulties Australia
www.ldaustralia.org

hurdles of learning to read seemed to be the ELL’s oral language skills appear to 155). Springer International Publishing.
LDA Bulletin | The English language learner and second language development

attributed to the role that high quality, be the best indicator of reading fluency Low, P., & Siegel, L. (2009). Spelling and
systematic, and explicit instruction and comprehension. English language learning. In G. A. Troia
played in arriving at these outcomes” (p. (Ed.), Instruction and assessment for
29). Second, there were some concerns
Conclusion
struggling writers (pp. 290-307). The
in the use of standardised or adapted It is important that mainstream teachers Guilford Press.
published assessments and screening have a knowledge and understanding Rosenman, S., & Madelaine, A. (2012).
tools regarding their cultural suitability and of the developmental process involved Predicting literacy achievement in young
a student’s understanding of the content in acquiring a new language. This English language learners: A question
presented. As many of these assessments knowledge is essential because it of language proficiency or of learning
were conducted as a single assessment, provides a foundation to understand the difficulty? Australian Journal of Learning
Rosenman and Madelaine emphasised phases involved in the English language Difficulties, 17(1), 17-34. doi:10.1080/1
the importance of using ongoing learning progression, and to distinguish 9404158.2012.665376
formative assessments and monitoring between ‘problem’ behaviours and
to track student progress. Third, they Rowe, K. (2006). Effective teaching
those commonly associated with the
found that teachers need to develop practices for students with and without
challenges of learning another language.
a comprehensive “knowledge about learning difficulties: Constructivism as
It is also important that teachers are
language, literacy, child development and a legitimate theory of learning AND of
familiar with the linguistic similarities
individual differences that may impact teaching? 1-24. Retrieved from https://
and differences between the student’s
on learning to read” (p. 30) and suggest research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cg
first language and English as this
that professional development should i?article=1008&context=learning_
underpins the development of an
include phonological processing skills, processes
informed explicit teaching and learning
oral language, vocabulary and reading program. In addition, researchers have Salend, J., & Salinas, A. (2003).
comprehension – all of which should be warned against classifying early primary Language differences or learning
taught explicitly. school ELL students as having a learning difficulties: The work of the
Rosenman and Madelaine warn difficulty due to their limited oral English multidisciplinary team. TEACHING
against both an early classification of language skills. Exceptional Children, 35(4), 36-43.
a student being at risk or conversely Researchers have found an Swan, M. and B. Smith (2012). Learner
adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach. assessment procedure that includes English: A teacher’s guide to interference
They recommend that, irrespective of phonological awareness and alphabetic and other problems. Cambridge
a student’s limited oral English, the use knowledge, followed by ongoing University Press.
of screening comprising “phonological formative assessments that monitor Villegas, A. M. (2018). Introduction
awareness, alphabetic knowledge, print student progress, to be the most to “Preparation and development
awareness and rapid naming in English” effective methods in identifying those of mainstream teachers for today’s
(p. 31) appear to be reliable in detecting ELL students who may also be at risk. linguistically diverse classrooms”. The
students who are likely to benefit from
References Education Forum, 82(2), 131-137.
explicit literacy instruction which targets
Retrieved from doi:10.1080/00131725.
Australian Curriculum Assessment and
2018.1420848
… phonological awareness, Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2011).
English as an additional language or Villegas, A. M., SaizdeLaMora, K., Martin,
rapid automatized naming, A. D., & Mills, T. (2018). Preparing
dialect teacher resource: Overview
and working memory and EAL/D learning progression. future mainstream teachers to teach
assessments can reliably Retrieved January 12, 2013, from English language learners: A review of
http://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/ the empirical literature. The Education
predict later reading fluency Forum, 82(2), 138-155. Retrieved from
EALD_Resource_-_EALD_Learning_
and comprehension. Progression.pdf. doi:10.1080/00131725.2018.1420850

the specific area of difficulty, rather than ACARA (2014). English as an Additional Dr Sally Robinson-Kooi is an independent
immediate special education intervention. Language of Dialect teacher resource: literacy and TESOL consultant working
These findings are consistent with EAL/D overview and advice. Retrieved with diverse socio-economic groups and
recent research (Geva et. al., 2019) from http://docs.acara.edu.au/ non-English background communities.
centred on ELLs in the US, Canada, resources/EALD_Overview_and_ Her PhD research examined the
Australia, and the UK which highlighted Advice_revised_February_2014.pdf. effectiveness of using Explicit Instruction
reading development of typical and Cummins, J. (2000). Second language for the teaching of spelling; the depth
atypical L2 learners. The researchers acquisition: Essential information. A of teacher knowledge of word structure;
found that phonological awareness, guide to learning English. Retrieved from and teacher pedagogical practices.
rapid automatized naming, and working esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/cummin. Sally provides professional development
memory assessments can reliably htm courses to schools; has presented at
predict later reading fluency and the DSF SPELD Language, Literacy
Geva, E., Xi, Y., Massey-Garrison
comprehension. ELLs in lower primary and Learning Conference; and is on the
A., & Mak, J. Y. (2019). Assessing
school are quite able to acquire reading LDA council.
reading in second language learners:
skills similar to their native speaking Development, validity, and educational
peers despite having limited oral skills. considerations. In D. A. Kilpatrick, R. M.
By Year 4, however, when texts become Joshi, & R. K. Wagner (Eds.), Reading
more “cognitively demanding” (p. 117) Development and Difficulties (pp. 117-

26 | Volume 52, No 3, December 2020